"Alright then, I'm sure you know what today is?" Ms. April said.
"FIELD DAY!" Everyone yelled… Except for Kate.
"Um, what's Field Day?" She asked. Keith stared at her. "You're kidding, right?" He said blankly. Kate sweatdropped. Luckily, before Keith could drag her out of the room, Rhythmi stepped in. "Field Day is when we all go somewhere connecting with the job we want to take—Ranger, Operator, or Mechanic—to see what they do." She explained. Kate nodded.
Ms. April stepped forward. "Now then, you've been given the addresses to your destination, so have a good time!" She said. "Dismissed!"
Everyone seemed to barrel through the doorway but Kate, who walked at her own pace—as a Ranger in training; she was to go to Vientown, which wasn't far. Kate walked through the courtyard and was about to pass through the school gates when she saw a figure leaned up against a tree.
Keith walked up to Kate, his face slightly red, but of course Kate didn't notice this. "Hey, Kate," He said before Kate could get a word in, "You're going to be a Ranger, right? Let's go to Vientown together." His face was flaming by the time he finished, but it wasn't a question; it was a statement. Kate nodded.
"Sure!" She smiled, which didn't make Keith's blushing go any easier. "Let's go!" She darted off through the school gates down the path to Vientown. Keith ran after her. They were running down the path when…
"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" They heard a cry of terror not far off. They turned to see a small, bony little man with tan hair clinging desperately to a tree. "Eek! Save me!" He cried. Kate looked around. "Save you from what?" She asked. All she could see was a little baby Bidoof snuffling around the tree.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
"CAPTURE ON!" Keith suddenly whipped out his Styler and captured the little Bidoof, which ran off into the bushes. The bony little man slid down the tree. "Safe…" He gasped. "Safe…"
Kate sweatdropped. "It was the Bidoof…?" Keith turned to her. "Kate, this is Little Tim." He explained. "He owns the local dairy farm with his wife, Bertha." He leaned in closer to add, "He's afraid of Pokémon," in a low whisper. "Ah…" Kate nodded.
"E-either way," Tim said, his voice shaking a little, "I'd be glad to treat you both to some milk sometime soon, please drop in if you've got the chance! Keith, could I talk to you?" Keith looked surprised, but walked over to Tim, who whispered,
"Keith, is that young'un there yer girlfriend?"
Keith's face flamed up so quickly you'd think he'd eaten a Tamato Berry. "NO SHE IS NOT!" He yelled. Tim chuckled. "I know, just pulling yer udder." He chortled, scurrying away.
"TIM! YOU GET BACK HERE!" Keith shouted after him, but Little Tim was long gone. Keith sighed. "Let's keep going." He grumbled. Kate looked at him questionably, but said no more.
They were close to Vientown and were crossing a large wooden bridge when they saw a little girl. "Where is he…?" She sobbed. "He's not here…!" The girl was dressed properly, wearing a blue jacket, a white shirt underneath, and a red tie and skirt. Her long blond hair, only slightly more golden than Rhythmi's, had two red heart accessories in them.
Kate ran up to the crying girl, who looked no older than eight or nine. "What's wrong?" She asked. "H-he's n-not he-here!" The girl choked out again. Suddenly they heard a voice from behind.
"Melody?" Isaac suddenly came running up to them with Ponte. Isaac had been reverting back to his old self lately ever since Mr. Kincaid had been sacked. "Melody, is that you?" The golden haired girl's eyes lit up. "Big brother!" She cried happily. Kate and Keith froze.
"Big?" Keith tilted his head to the left. "Brother?" Kate tilted her head to the right. Then they both yelled, "WHAAAAAAAAT?" Isaac looked up and smiled. "This is my younger sister, Melody." He explained. "Come on, Melody, I'll walk you home." They, being Isaac, Melody and Ponte, kept walking. Kate rubbed her forehead.
"I need an aspirin." She moaned. Keith grinned at her and sweatdropped.
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In a few minutes, the two were at Vientown. They followed the directions to the Ranger Base, but in doing so they passed a path that had a sign next to it that said—
Chicole Village
Kate cast a longing gaze down the path. Keith stopped and noticed her staring at the sign. Then something in his head clicked. "Hey, that's where your family lives, isn't it?"
Kate snapped out of her reverie. "Err, yeah." She mumbled, her cheeks turning pink. He couldn't help it; a corner of Keith's mouth turned upward in amusement and he raised an eyebrow. "Your sister—it's Gracidea, right?—she's there too?" Kate's face went even pinker as she nodded. Keith grinned.
"Well, we can't see her now, but tell her that you were close to her today in your next letter." He suggested. Kate smiled up at him. "Sure!" They kept walking until they reached a red building with the Ranger symbol on the doors. It had bushes growing on the roof.
"Here it is," Kate breathed. Keith nodded. Mere words couldn't describe Kate's excitement at the moment. She was so excited! She opened the doors and…
There was no one there except a purple-haired Operator. The Operator looked around and noticed them. "Oh, hello!" She chirped. "You must be Kate and Keith from the Ranger School! All the Rangers have gone off on a top-secret Mission!" Keith looked over at Kate.
"The whole Base?" He exclaimed. "It must be one whopper of a crisis!" The Operator sighed. "Yes, it is! Some Bidoof… Oh, I can't force myself to say it! Oh, but the Leader Barlow left you a note…" She pulled up a large crate with a note attached. Kate read it aloud;
"Welcome to the both of you! Here's a Mission from the get-go!
"I've left an extremely important parcel with our Operator. Collect it, and bring it to Breeze Hill, which is west from Vientown.
"Good luck! ~Vientown Leader—Barlow
"This is the parcel." The Operator gestured towards the crate. "Try not to tip it on it's side and never, ever tip it upside-down!" She ordered strictly. "Right!" Kate and Keith nodded. Kate made to take the box, but Keith had it in his hands before she could touch it. "I want to hold it!" He said childishly. Kate laughed and they both departed the base, the Operator smiling behind them.
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They walked outside of Vientown, going west, until they reached a small beach. Just ahead of that was Breeze Hill, and they were just about to leave the beach when they ran into a tiny old man who was feeding some Shellos. He saw the two and smiled.
"Field Day, am I correct?" Kate nodded, but Keith was now staggering underneath the weight of the box. The man smiled, his beetle-black eyes twinkling with good humor. "Good luck!" He said. "Thank you!" Kate smiled, and as she walked freely towards Breeze Hill, Keith walked slowly, overwhelmed by the crate. As he passed the old man, the little old man whispered;
"It is said that if a boy and a girl come together on a Field Day to this beach, they will stay together forever!" Keith very nearly dropped the crate, his face burning, and he scuttled off as quick as he could to Breeze Hill, the old man chortling behind him.
When they arrived at the hill, they were greeted with much clapping by four people. One they recognized as Crawford, the Ranger who had visited on Outdoor Class. "Welcome!" A large man with dark skin and a maroon mustache boomed. "You two must be Kate and Keith!"
"Oooooh, they're so cuuuuute!" A girl with dark brown hair, a winning smile and shiny black eyes squealed with pleasure.
"Easy, Luana." A woman with short red hair, sparkling blue eyes and wearing yellow goggles and a green jumpsuit laughed jokingly. "Don't scare them!"
"HEY, IT'S SPIKY AND FLAME!" Crawford shouted excitedly, bounding over to Kate. Keith was reliving himself of the large crate by handing it to the large dark man, whom Kate took to be Barlow. "What? Spiky and Flame?" Kate asked confusedly. Keith walked over to them. "Yeah, what's up with that?" He asked.
"Well, Spiky's got spiky pigtails and Flame's got flame colored hair!" Crawford laughed heartily. He leaned in to Keith. "And Flame's face flames up whenever anyone talks about Spiky!" He whispered. "WHAT? WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Keith yelled. Crawford burst into peals of laughter. "See?" He laughed. And sure enough, Flame's face was flaming.
Kate hadn't taken any notice of this; she was too busy observing the Pokemon that the Rangers had with them. The black eyed girl named Luana had a Buneary on her shoulder, Barlow had a Makuhita and Crawford had a Budew. The short-haired woman, however, had no Pokemon—she didn't even have a Styler.
The woman caught Kate staring at her and grinned mischievously. "You're probably wondering why I'm not dressed like a fire truck aren't you." She laughed. She held out a hand. "My name's Elaine, I'm the Ringtown Base's Mechanic." Kate shook Elaine's hand gratefully, and then asked, "Why do all the Rangers have Pokémon?"
Elaine grinned and now Kate noticed that Elaine, despite her dirty green jumpsuit and large goggles, was very beautiful. She had fiery orange hair and sparkling blue eyes that seemed to ripple kindly when she laughed, and she had perfectly clear skin that shone with a healthy apricot color. "All Rangers are permitted to keep one Pokémon with them to help them on captures, a Partner Pokémon." She explained. "You can have more than one, but you can only keep a single Pokémon with you at any one time."
Kate nodded in understanding, and her mind wandered to her Pachirisu Egg which was sitting safely in her backpack, protected by many warm blankets. Elaine noticed her being zoned-out. "What's up?" She asked. Kate snapped out of her reverie and told Elaine about Mr. Kincaid's torturing the lone Pachirisu and it leaving an Egg behind that had gone to Kate. Elaine scowled.
"I never liked that Kincaid." She snarled. "Always slithering around and acting like he was up to something; and yet he could avoid trouble like Crawford can avoid a hair straightener." She gestured to Crawford and his giant curly afro, who were teasing Keith about something Kate couldn't hear. Kate noted that Keith looked like he had bad sunburn.
"So, you said you had a Pachirisu Egg?" Elaine asked. Kate nodded. "Let me see." Kate delicately removed the Egg from her backpack and removed the blankets with the utmost care. When she was finished, Elaine examined the Egg carefully.
"This Egg looks like it's going to hatch soon!" She finally announced. Kate's eyes lit up. "Seriously?" She asked, shocked. "Yeah. Don't keep this Egg in your backpack anymore; we don't want it hatching where it's got no room to hatch." Elaine instructed. Then Kate nodded. "Thank you so much!" She said, and she picked up her Egg and ran over to Keith, who was still yelling at Crawford.
"Keith!" She called, and Keith turned. "Yeah?" Kate was clutching her Egg. "Elaine, the Mechanic, said my Egg's going to hatch soon!" Keith gaped.
"Seriously?" He gasped. "That's what she said!" Elaine called, and Kate sweatdropped. "Ok, lunchtime!" Barlow boomed suddenly, and Kate and Keith were confused.
"Lunchtime?" Kate asked. Suddenly, everyone started laughing. "Yes, lunchtime!" Barlow roared, and he opened the 'very important parcel' to reveal a feast fit for a king, with sandwiches, fruit and all sorts of drinks.
Kate was about to ask, but didn't get a chance because Keith shot his hands out and grabbed all the food he could eat. "Keith!" Kate scolded disgustedly, as Keith was shoving food into his mouth. "Wha?" He mumbled through all the food. "Izz good, oo try sum, Kay!" Kate stared at him for a split second, but then she burst out laughing and started eating with everyone else.
"This prank wasn't my idea, of course," Barlow laughed. "It was Crawford's, he thought it would be funny to do this to every student that came." Luana giggled. "I was the first to come…" Crawford rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you dropped the box so much, the lunch was ruined!" He yelled. Luana sweatdropped. They were all eating and having a good time when…
"HELP!" Everyone turned to see a young man in a light blue shirt running towards them. "Help!" He panted. "The Shellos down at the beach started acting weird and then they surrounded my girlfriend! HELP!" Barlow shot up. "Lunch is going to have to wait!" He roared. "It's go time!"
All the Rangers did their Ranger Poses and ran off, Barlow in the lead. Elaine ran up to Kate and Keith. "You two, come with us!" She ordered, and Kate and Keith followed obediently.
When they reached the beach, they saw a young lady in a light blue dress surrounded by pink Shellos. "Help!" She said, obviously terrified.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
"CAPTURE ON!" Barlow, Crawford and Luana shouted and they ran forward and started to take control of the Shellos. "WOW!" Keith was waving his fists around, and Kate took refuge behind Elaine, who had seen that reaction from Luana the previous year. "REAL RANGERS DOING REAL CAPTURES ON REAL POKÉMON?" Keith yelled. Elaine sighed. "Oh no, it's fake Ranger doing fake Captures on fake Pokémon." Keith stopped. "Oh." Elaine sweatdropped. "I was kidding."
The three watched the three Rangers make the Captures, and they all looked more skilled (except maybe Luana, who was a little clumsy) than they were. They soon finally finished. "Oh, wow…" Kate breathed. "That was—"
She was cut off by her Egg glowing.
"Ah! AHHH!" She yelled, and everyone gathered around her. "It's ok, it's ok!" Crawford said. "Now PUSH!" Barlow popped a vessel. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT FROM?" He roared. "I saw it on a TV show! PUSH!" Crawford yelled again.
The Egg seemed to be taking a different form. There were ears… little hands and feet… a huge tail with a blue stripe emerging…
And the next thing she knew, Kate had a small baby Pachirisu in her arms.
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Kate, Keith, and the little Pachirisu were walking home. "It was nice of Barlow to let that law about students having Pokémon slide for a day." Kate said. Keith nodded. Graduation was the next day. "Have you decided on a name?" He asked. Kate nodded.
"When she hatched—Elaine said it was a girl—everything seemed like music to me," Kate said. "The ocean, the Shellos, even Crawford yelling PUSH!" Keith laughed quietly, as the Pachirisu was sleeping.
"So because of that," Kate went on, "I'm going to name her Lyrical, Lyric for short." Keith nodded. "That's a good name." He said. Then he snickered. "What?" Kate asked. Keith grinned at her.
"Rhythmi's going to pop a vessel when she sees this!"
Sure enough, when Rhythmi had seen Lyrical, she had fussed over it while squealing over and over that she was jealous of Kate. After awhile of this, though, Lyrical had used Spark on Rhythmi and now Rhythmi preferred to keep her distance.
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It was the day Kate, Keith and Rhythmi had been both excited for and dreading—graduation. They all sat in their seats in the main hall, fidgeting about and squirming in their seats, waiting for the announcement of where they would be placed. Finally Principal Lamont came up and made a speech.
"I am not one for long words and the lot, but I live in the hope that you will follow your own path and become successful," He said. "I only ask this—never forget your smiles. And now a word from this year's valedictorian, Isaac."
Isaac stepped onto the podium. "I am proud to say that I have gotten a position at Altru Incorporated, but I could never have done it without all of you and without one special person that saved me from Mr. Kincaid." He said. "Kate, get on up here!" Kate blushed furiously, but stepped up with him, Lyrical sitting contentedly on her shoulder. Keith was glaring at Isaac, who chuckled into the mic, "Don't worry, Keith, I won't take her from you." Keith blushed furiously and kept his eyes fixed determinedly on the floor, everyone but Kate, who didn't get it, laughing quietly.
Kate spoke uncertainly into the microphone and said, "Um… well… Oh, God, this is awkward." Everyone, including Keith, laughed at this, but not for long.
Two Tangrowth burst forth from the basement, roaring and swinging their arms. "KATE!" Keith yelled. Kate got up from where she'd been knocked over. "Right!"
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
"CAPTURE ON!" Keith and Kate immediately started capturing the Tangrowth, and Keith seemed to be having trouble, but not nearly as much as Kate, who was on the verge of tears. Suddenly, Lyrical jumped off of her shoulder. "Lyric!" Kate yelped in surprise, but when Lyrical touched the Styler Top, the cap jumped open and Lyrical seemed to jump inside, the cap closing over her.
There was a flash of light, and the Top changed color. Kate didn't understand, but somehow she felt that she had to keep going.
She kept circling the Tangrowth as fast as she could, and lightning sprung forth from the Styler Top, slowing down the Pokémon only slightly, but it was all Kate needed to do it. Both the Tangrowth were captured and taken away by Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire.
Ms. April stepped up, shuddering. "We'll look into that later… And now, your positions." She announced. Kate immediately grasped Keith and Rhythmi's hands, praying.
"Team A of Ponte, Ryan and Fakir are in Pueltown." Ms. April said. "Team B of Anne, Lana and Caitlyn are in Boyleland. Team C of John, Logan and Brandon are in Haruba Village. And," She took a deep breath and smiled widely, "Team D of Kate, Keith, and Rhythmi are in Vientown!"
It all happened so fast; Keith let out a whoop of joy, Rhythmi was hugging Kate excitedly; Lyrical was scurrying around happily, not even knowing what had happened, but still happy, and Kate, filled with the joy of knowing that they were going to stay together.
"Hey guys!" She yelled over the din. "What?" Keith asked, Rhythmi was still practically strangling Kate, but still listened to what Kate said next.
"WE'RE GOING TO STAY TOGETHER!"
